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Posted on: June 24, 2019

Youth Home Director Sentenced to 54 Years to Life in Prison for Sexual Assault of a Child

William Wayne Sexton, DOB: 6-4-63, appeared today in Jefferson County District Court where he was sentenced to prison for 54 years to life for sexually assaulting youth at a group home where he was director.

Between 2015 and 2018, William Sexton was the director of the Bridgeway, a juvenile group home in Lakewood. The Bridgeway group home was contracted through Savio, a non-profit organization that provides treatment and intervention services for youth and families. During this period of time, Sexton sexually assaulted five teenage males who were living at Bridgeway. He befriended and groomed these vulnerable youths. The assaults took place in two locations. The young victims that he sexually assaulted said they saw him as a “father figure”. Sexton also provided and smoked marijuana with one of the boys on numerous occasions. He provided and drank alcohol with another one of the boys.

On May 10, 2019 a jury found Sexton guilty of all counts, in two cases, of sexually assaulting youth who lived at the Bridgeway Group Home. Sexton was found guilty of eight counts, including three counts of Sexual Assault of a Child by one in a Position of Trust as part of a Pattern (F3); Sexual Assault of a Child by one in a Position of Trust (F4); two counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (F4); Unlawful Sexual Contact (M1); and Violation of Bail Bond Conditions (F6).

“What these young men suffered at the hands of Sexton is reprehensible. Already going through difficulties in their young lives, they were subjected to unimaginable horrors at the hand of someone they had been groomed to trust and look up to,” said DA Pete Weir, “Their courage and resilience allowed them to participate in this difficult process and help us to reach this sentence that will end Williams Sexton’s predatory exploitation of young men.”